Promoting food acceptance through tactile exposure – Is there evidence for messy play?

Lots of little ones with sensory differences struggle with new textures. Let’s have a look at how and why can gentle exposure to new tactile experiences through messy play help kids to expand their eating choices??

This Jan 2018 – Evaluation of a pilot sensory play intervention to increase fruit acceptance in preschool children, by Coulthard, Williamson, Palfreyman and Lyttle. Study of 100 children in the UK, found that when combined with food exposure, tactile sensory play with both food and non-food substances increased children’s acceptance of fruit at a later date.

In this Jan 2018 study – Taste the feeling or feel the tasting: Tactile exposure to food texture promotes food acceptance, by Nederkoorn, Theiβen, Tummers and Roefs. 68 Children were randomised into 2 groups, the group of children given tactile (hands only) exposure to food, were then found to be more likely to accept and eat foods with the same texture. Read more here

In June 2017 the study – Play with your food! Sensory play is associated with tasting of fruits and vegetables in preschool children, by Coulthard and Sealy found that “sensory play activities using fruits and vegetables may encourage fruit and vegetable tasting in preschool children more than non-food play or visual exposure alone”.